My Judas
by santeria
Summary: A surprise encounter with Valerie drastically alters Danny's life. Long twoshot. PrePP.
1. Part I

_A/N_: This started as a songfic to Evanescence's _Lacrimosa_, but then it just kind of snowballed and took on a life of its own...so yeah...Hope you like it.

_Summary_: A surprise encounter with Valerie drastically alters Danny's life. Long oneshot. Pre-PP.

**My Judas**

Valerie Gray was a smart girl. Pretty, and strong. Independent, like Sam, but without the awkwardness of having been friends with Danny for years before they started dating. The downside to Danny's relationship with Val was that she was so _stubborn_; she refused to let go of her hatred for Phantom.

It was her stubbornness that led to them both flying at top speed through the cold night air on more than one occasion. Their fights were fast and brutal. She threw all of her hate into her fighting, while he suppressed the magnitude of his power in an effort to not kill her. His heart pounded in his ears whenever a blast from one of her weapons barreled toward him, and adrenaline rushed through his thin frame as he dodged and flew, weaving through the onslaught with desperate dexterity. Even through her helmet visor he could see her eyes burning with anger, while he practically begged her to leave him alone. She never listened.

Sometimes he didn't know why he took her beatings. He could have fought harder; it would be so easy for him to unleash his full power, to end her misguided quest for vengeance once and for all. So easy. He didn't _have_ to take the blame she laid on his shoulders, didn't have to lay that burden on top of the others he was already carrying.

The day that she left him standing in the schoolyard, ring in hand and heart in pain, there had been relief swirling beneath the ache. He was, in some weird way, glad that the relationship was over. He would no longer have to shoot ectoblasts at the girl he was dating, wouldn't have to lie to her about that. It had been a dangerous enough situation in the first place, and dating her had only aggravated the problem, but he had been willing to deal with that.

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It was a frigid December night when he snapped. She had charged at him out of nowhere, ectogun already flaring with deadly red light, and he just hadn't been in the mood for it. There had been too many ghosts that week, too much trouble at school and at home, and his anger and pain had been bubbling away inside him for far too long. He was already agitated from a fight against a scorpion ghost that he'd just sucked into the Thermos, and the monster's stinger had grazed his shoulder, leaving a semi-deep slash that leaked green.

He didn't even have the energy to correct her when she called him "ghost" instead of by his name. When a blood-red blast cut the air toward him, he just floated there listlessly, vaguely thinking _I should move_ but not finding the energy to actually do so. The blast slammed him square in the chest, shoving him into a concrete building that cracked with the force of the impact. A strangled groan curled in his throat, his head throbbed dizzyingly, and his chest felt as if a piano had fallen on it.

"I've got you now, ghost!" There was savage glee in Valerie's voice, and she was already charging her gun for another shot. "You won't escape this time!"

The sad thing was, Danny was sure she was right. He was too tired and weak to fight tonight. He just wanted to go home and collapse onto his bed. Years of fighting malicious ghosts, of barely eking by in school, getting bullied by Dash, hunted by his parents, of suffering serious wounds on a daily basis had all started taking their toll on his frail teenage body. He was sick of lying to everyone he cared about. Lately, he'd been seriously considering giving up ghost hunting. He could destroy the portals, stop the ghosts coming through...that would be worth suffering through Vlad's wrath and his parents' disappointment.

Looking into Valerie's unforgiving eyes that night, something in his mind broke. Her ectogun whined, and she raised the weapon, her finger hooking over the button that would set free another red beam. He tensed, and when she pushed the button and an ectoblast roared out of the gun he suddenly dove downward. The blast exploded against the concrete building as his feet touched ground.

"Get back here, ghost! I'm not finished with you yet!"

She started to give chase, but the opportunity was cut short when she saw that he wasn't trying to fly away. Instead he stood there and held his hands up in the universal signal for surrender. She was confused, and the split-second hesitation was all that he needed to whisper "_Valerie."_ She snapped back into soldier mode and snarled "Don't call me that!" As she trained her gun on him a third time, two white halos burst around his waist and traveled over him, leaving black-haired blue-eyed Danny Fenton in their wake.

There was silence. The gun did not whine, her hoverboard did not whir to life, and she said nothing. Just stared in shock. In that beat of silence, Danny had hope. She would stop shooting at him now, would let him talk and actually listen to what he said. He looked up at her, biting his lip and waiting for a response. His hand came up and rubbed the back of his neck in his usual nervous gesture.

It was this motion that seemed to break Valerie out of her trance. She started, then guided her hoverboard to the ground, her gun still trained on him. She was moving cautiously, as if any sudden movements would cause him to vanish like a wisp of smoke. At first he felt relief, then he realized something odd. She was still in warrior stance, her gun was still ready, and rage was coming off her in waves. He took a step back. "Valerie?" His voice sounded small.

"What. Did. You. Do?" Her voice was dripping venom, and Danny stared at her in confusion.

"Val, it's me--"

"What did you do to Danny, ghost?!" Danny's jaw dropped.

"No, Val, listen! _I'm_ Danny! I--"

She lunged forward in a sudden fit of rage, her weight knocking him clean off his feet. She landed on top of him, and when his head stopped spinning and he opened his eyes he saw the barrel of an ectogun pointed straight at his face. Her armor dug into his ribs, and she ripped off her helmet and glared at him. Her expression was a mixture of pain, desperation, anger, and confusion. "If you hurt him, I swear to god I'll—I'll...turn you over to the Guys in White!"

A shiver ran through Danny. It wasn't because of the cold air that was brushing his bare arms, but because of the force of her threat. She was definitely serious; killing him wouldn't be enough for her. She wanted him to really suffer...because she thought _Phantom_ had hurt _Fenton_. It would be laughable if the situation wasn't so dangerous.

"What are you smirking about, ghost?"

"N-Nothing! Val, listen to me, I can explain!"

The gun pressed to his cheek, forcing his head sideways against the pavement so that all he could see was the wall of an abandoned apartment across the street, but he continued speaking. "I'm Danny Fenton _and_ Danny Phantom...there was an accident...I never meant to make your dad lose his job, I never kidnapped the mayor, I haven't been lying to you about protecting the town... I'm sorry about everything..."

The pressure of the gun did not lighten, and Danny stared ahead at the apartment wall, waiting. The wall was a dull ugly yellow in the streetlight, cracked around the foundation, weeds probing through the broken slabs of sidewalk. Danny's heart thudded. A whisper of a breeze brushed by, causing goosebumps to rise on his arms. The weeds on the sidewalk fluttered almost unnoticeably.

The gun moved away, and Valerie's weight lifted off him. He sat up, his shoulder and chest burning, and saw her backing away, her face blank and her gun hanging at her side. She leapt deftly onto her hoverboard and whooshed away. He did not stand until the whir of her hoverboard had long disappeared into the still, starred night.

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The next day was a Wednesday, and Danny was late as usual. He had been so tired that morning, and it had only been because of his mother's constant hassling that he got up at all. He ran through the empty halls, stopping only to grab a couple of books from his locker before jetting off to Tetslaff's room. He skidded into class, slinking to his seat as inconspicuously as possible. Valerie was not there.

Tetslaff's class had passed smoothly, but he was only five minutes into English class when the door slid open and a sophomore girl poked her head in. She was visibly upset. "Will Danny Fenton please go to the Principal's office? It's urgent." Danny's mouth went dry and his hands clenched around the edge of the desk. Lancer looked displeased but resigned. Danny slowly gathered his things then shuffled out after the girl, the eyes of his classmates burning into his back as he left. The girl walked fast and didn't look at him.

When they reached the office, she led him inside. He followed, and she closed the door behind him. The Principal was sitting behind her desk, looking very serious, and Danny stared at her and began to open his mouth to ask what was going on. Before he could, there was a beeping sound behind him.

"This him?" A low, masculine voice asked, and the Principal nodded. The voice sounded horribly familiar...Danny whirled around, eyes wide and thoughts running rampant. It _couldn't_ be...

But it was. Operatives K and O stood there in their pristine white suits. A ghost detector was beeping frantically in O's hand, and Danny knew. Valerie had made good on her promise. She thought Phantom had done something to Fenton, was overshadowing him or impersonating him or something, and she had called the Guys in White. K roughly grabbed Danny's arm while O prodded the ghost detector at him. The device beeped louder. "Yep, he's definitely a ghost," said O in a business-like tone. K took a syringe out from somewhere.

Danny's reflexes kicked in. "No, my parents are ghost hunters! I get ectoplasm on my clothes sometimes--"

The operatives ignored him, and he sent a pleading glance to the Principal. She sat at her desk, her face set in a stony expression and her hands folded. The needle of the syringe winked bright silver in the sunlight that was streaming through the window, and Danny tried to jerk away. "No!" Operative O latched onto his other arm. _Going ghost, going ghost_...but the needle was sliding under his skin even as the rings started to appear. They flickered for a brief second then disappeared as Danny's blue eyes rolled back into his head. His knees folded and he crumbled limply to the ground. The operatives bound the unconscious boy's arms and legs with ghost-proof shackles and carried him to their van, making sure to lock the boy securely inside.

It was hours later when Danny awoke. Not that he could tell the time, because everything around him was a stark, blinding white. He was in a small square room with bare walls and a bare floor. The only interesting thing was a two-way mirror through which he was no doubt being observed. He struggled to stand, but only reached the point where he could lean crookedly against the wall. His hands and ankles were still shackled tightly, and his brain felt like it had been repeatedly pounded with a hammer.

The white metal door clanged open and a man Danny didn't recognize strode in. He was dressed entirely in white, and he looked at Danny with a cold expression of disdain. He bent down, grabbed Danny's arm and jerked it so hard that there was a sick _pop!_ and an intense flash of pain as the shoulder joint disconnected. Danny cried out, too surprised to hide his pain, but the operative ignored him as he shoved a needle into a vein. Within seconds Danny was again unconscious, and the man left him sprawled carelessly on the floor, his arm at a funny angle.

Half an hour later, while the boy was still unconscious, a white-clad nurse entered the room and took some of his blood. Before she left, she paused at the door, went back to the lifeless boy, and popped his shoulder back into place. Letting her hand rest over his heart, she thought for a moment about how young and harmless he looked, then gave a small shake of her head and left the room.

When the ectosignature of Danny's blood was identified, the researchers were stunned to find that the signature indeed matched that of the infamous ghost-boy Phantom. Later, as a drugged Danny was led from the bare room to a more permanent cell, he caught a glimpse of his family, Sam, and Tucker standing in a closed-off lobby area. He couldn't hear them-- the lobby was soundproofed-- , but Maddie was clearly yelling at an operative. They caught sight of him through the glass and stared; Sam started for him but was immediately pulled back by two operatives. She struggled, her mouth moving in a way that clearly suggested that she was screaming _Danny!_ over and over again at the top of her lungs, and an unseen operative started to close the blinds between the lobby and the hallway. Behind the Fentons and the grappling Sam there was a flash of brown skin and an orange headband. Valerie looked up as he was hustled past.

_I'm sorry_, she mouthed as the blinds dropped down. Sam continued screaming silently, while tears ran openly down Jazz and Maddie's faces, and Tucker looked too thunderstruck to do anything. The blinds fell shut, blocking his family and friends from sight, and Danny continued to be passively led away to his new cell.

The door slammed shut behind him, and he found himself, once again, alone.


	2. Part II

**A/N:** Since you asked for it, here it is: another chapter. Seriously though, I kind of wanted to write another chapter too. Because it just seemed mean to leave Danny alone in at the GIW agency.

**My Judas- Pt. II**

Valerie stood stock still in the sunlit kitchen, her mouth open in shock, ignoring the persistent whistling of the coffee maker. Her mind was replaying over again what the announcer on the telescreen had reported mere seconds ago: due to a new law, the GIW was being shut down and the infamous Danny Phantom was being released. Valerie's hands, clutching an empty ceramic mug, began to tremble. She hadn't seen Phantom...Danny...since that terrible day when she'd turned him over to the Guys in White. Ever since that cold December Wednesday seventeen years ago...

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Fifteen-year-old Valerie Gray clutched the phone to her ear. She was tired—she hadn't slept a wink the night before, she had been so confused and unsure. Phantom had said he was Danny _Fenton_. He had to be lying...but what had he done to the real Danny? Was he possessing him? Val shuddered at the thought. Maybe she could help Danny by separating him from Phantom?...No, she had no clue how she would even begin that process. Should she tell Danny's parents? Did his parents already know? And what about Sam and Tucker?

With a muffled cry of frustration, Valerie burrowed her head under her pillow, pressing the soft fabric to her ears as is physically blocking out her thoughts. Her alarm clock stared at her, its digital face reading 1:10 a.m. Valerie bit her lip. She didn't know what to do! She recalled her threat to Phantom: _I'll turn you over to the Guys in White!_ The answer clicked into place, and Val flung the pillow off her head and shot out of bed. She _could_ call the Guys in White! They were experienced with ghosts, they could fix Danny! She smiled cheerily as she pressed the 'on' button on her computer so she could look up a number at which to call the GIW agency.

The agency opened at 5 a. m., and it was at that time exactly that a sleep-deprived Valerie called in to report Phantom had taken over the body of a teenager named Danny Fenton. The operative at the other end of the line didn't believe her at first; she had to describe exactly what Phantom had looked like, and how the white rings had turned him into the human Fenton. When she finally hung up, heart thudding in her throat, she had a powerful urge to call back and say _No, it was a joke, of course Phantom hasn't taken over a human! _But she wasn't brave enough to lift the phone more than an inch off the receiver. She set the phone back into its cradle and crawled into bed again, the full weight of a night of no sleep pressing down on her, and closed her eyes.

When she awoke at noon—apparently her father had decided to let her skip school for once—she went straight for the kitchen. Slathering cream cheese on a wheat bagel and listening some music playing softly on the radio, Valerie felt very content indeed. Danny was going to be saved and it was all because of her! Humming, she poured herself some orange juice. Just as she took the first swallow, the phone screamed shrilly. Valerie choked; coughing, she went over to the ringing phone and picked it up. "Hello?" she coughed.

"Val?"

"Oh, hi, Dad." There was a pause at the other end of the line, then her father said in a cautious voice "Have you heard the news?"

Her heart quickened. "No, what happened?"

"They caught Phantom, sweetheart—" Her father's voice seemed to fade away as Valerie remembered the expression on Phantom's face after he had morphed into Fenton. For some reason, Phantom getting caught seemed wrong. Yes, she had been the one to report him, but somehow it hadn't seemed real.

"Valerie? Are you okay?"

"Yeah, dad." Her voice sounded slightly unsteady, and she gripped the phone harder. "I...have to go."

"Val—"

But she'd already hung up the phone. For a minute she stood in the kitchen, staring blankly at her half-eaten breakfast and not feeling hungry at all as she imagined Danny being dragged to the GIW agency. She felt sick.

What had she done?

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Thirty-two year old Valerie shrugged on a thin yellow jacket. It was autumn, and wind was chilly. She had called in sick to work; she really didn't feel like going to Axion today. She had other plans.

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The newscaster had said that Phantom was staying with an old friend. That left Valerie two options: Tucker or Sam. And she was pretty sure it was Sam. So now she stood on the sidewalk in front of the Manson mansion, which Sam took care of because her parents were too old to do it themselves. The building loomed in front of her, looking sinister with half-dead trees and curtains drawn shut. Valerie shivered as a breeze swept frigidly past.

She had to do this. She knew that he knew that it was she who had turned him in. Even Sam and Tuck hadn't known that it was her fault.

_Seventeen years_.

Valerie gathered all her courage together and marched up to the front door. With one shaking hand, she knocked. After a few seconds, there was the thunder of combat boots clunking down stairs, and Valerie almost turned tail and ran away. Her stubbornness forced her to stay on the doorstep, and when Sam Manson inched open the door it was to see a very frightened-looking Valerie clutching her purse hard enough to leave little indents in the faux leather.

"Hi. Is Danny here?"

Sam stared, then opened the door wider and allowed Val to slip inside.

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He looked different. It shouldn't have surprised her but it did. A part of her still expected to see young, cute, clumsy Danny Fenton. This Danny looked frail, with skin so pale it was teetering on the verge of translucent. His raven hair was messy and slightly long, and his clothes were obviously borrowed from Tucker. Valerie inwardly cringed. The accusation _It's all your fault_ skittered across her brain, and she knew it was true.

His azure eyes landed on her, and she quickly looked down. She couldn't bring herself to meet his gaze. Her muscles were tense and her heart was pattering so hard that he could surely hear it from across the room. She stared resolutely at the floor, which consisted of a fluffy white carpet over shining hardwood floorboards.

Sam said, "You can sit down." Valerie hesitated. A quick glance to the side revealed that a chair was several steps away; they were in the living room and there was a table with chairs conveniently set up around it. She shuffled to the chair and obediently sat, still staring downward. The dark wood of the tabletop was polished so that it reflected the chandelier. Sam made a motion as if she too was going to sit, but Danny murmured something and Sam disappeared. From somewhere far down the hall another voice sounded. It sounded like Maddie Fenton.

"Uh..." She chanced a peek at Danny. He looked a little confused and surprised. "Hi." _Great, Valerie. You get him locked up for seventeen years and all you can say is 'hi'? _She blushed, embarrassed.

"Valerie." His acknowledgement was soft and gentle, which was surprising and unnerving. Shouldn't he be yelling at her by now, or kicking her out of Sam's house? He didn't add anything else, and it occurred to Valerie that he was simply waiting for her to say what she needed to say. He was not going to help her along.

"Um...I just wanted to say...I never meant for ..." She took a deep breath and stared hard at the tabletop. Danny waited patiently.

"I'm sorry." There. She'd said it. Her eyes burned. "I didn't mean for ..._that_ to happen. I thought they would...I don't know...separate you and Phantom and let you go. And then...I guess our lives could go back to normal. Or as normal as our lives could get." She sighed and repeated "I don't know. I'm sorry."

He was quiet for a moment. She looked at him, her dark eyes lingering on his left arm, which was resting on the table. The bones of his wrist and knuckles were disturbingly visible, and Tucker's shirt hung loosely over the thin appendage. He said, "I'm sorry too, Val."

She tilted her head. "Sorry for what?"

He shrugged. "Sorry for not telling you before. Sorry that you didn't listen when I tried to explain." Coming from his mouth, it did not seem as if he were reproving her. It was a mere statement, nothing more.

"I was going to visit you," added Valerie, unsure of how to continue. "But I was too_..." Scared_. _Ashamed_. She didn't finish the sentence, but the look in his pure blue eyes said that he understood anyway.

A question started in Valerie's throat, but she bit her tongue. It was a question that she had wondered about ever since he was captured. Unable to contain herself, she blurted "What did they do to you?"

An unreadable expression darted across his thin face. His bony fingers drummed the tabletop thoughtfully. "They experimented on me. I mean, I was a valuable half-ghost, so they didn't treat me like yesterday's garbage." _At first_. "But I wasn't considered human either, so there were a lot of experiments." He stared distantly into nothing, then slowly continued, choosing his words carefully. "I can deal with physical pain. It was the mental stuff that got to me. The being kept prisoner and having the GIW control my life..."

He sounded so haunted and so old. Valerie twisted her fingers in her lap. "I'm so sorry, Danny." She really was sorry. Had been sorry the moment she heard that Phantom had been captured. For seventeen years she'd agonized over her foolish decision, had hated herself for what she'd done. She recalled what he'd looked like that first day at the GIW agency, when he was being led away, his wrists and ankles shackled. His young face had an odd slack quality to it, like he was drugged (which he probably had been), and he'd looked at her standing there behind his family. Even his eyes had looked perfectly vacant, devoid of anger or sorrow. It had chilled her to the bone, and deepened her regret. As he'd been led past, she had whispered _I'm sorry_. She had known he couldn't hear it, but there was a chance he would see it.

She could apologize ten million times and never make up for the pain she had caused him. She had basically cost him his life. And then there were the Fentons, and Sam and Tucker...she'd ruined their lives as well. They didn't know it was her fault. Only Danny did.

She had a lot of apologizing to do.

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He asked about her life. What she had been doing all those years he'd been locked away. So she told him about college, about her father retiring and her taking over his job at Axion labs, about the guy she'd almost married before she decided she wasn't ready. Mostly she talked to either distract herself or to fill any awkward silences. And there were a lot of those silences. He laughed a fair few times at her stories; his laughter was a harsh barking sound, rusty from disuse and heavy with pain.

After a couple of hours she met with Maddie, Jack, and Jazz, who had all kindly given Val and Danny their privacy. She bade goodbye to them, Sam, and Tucker (who had just arrived half an hour ago with new clothes for Danny), and left the mansion, feeling a lot lighter than she had when she'd arrived.

Upon reaching the sidewalk, she realized with a jolt that Danny had never actually said that he'd forgiven her. He hadn't acted mad at her, and had accepted her numerous apologies, but that was it. She circled back toward the house, then changed her mind and turned away.

Perhaps Danny just wasn't ready to forgive her; it was understandable. She just had to give him some time, and there would definitely be plenty of time to make amends.

She had waited seventeen years for this. She could wait a little longer.


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